Dhaka - Khaleda Zia is considered an "uncompromising" leader to her supporters in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, a major political force which she has led for the last two-and-a-half decades. An inflexible attitude in the anti-autocratic movement throughout 1980s had earned an "uncompromising" title for Zia, who says her politics are dedicated to the causes of the people.
"People's support is our strength. I believe in people's power. Our politics are not dependent on anyone's favour," says Zia of her campaign for her party in Monday's polls.
The 63-year housewife-turned politician's entry into to politics and her subsequent rise have been dramatic and important at many levels, according to analysts.
She served the poverty-stricken country twice (from 1991-1996 and 2001-2006) as prime minister. Now she leads a BNP-led alliance of right-wing political parties to return the South Asian nation to democracy, ending two years of military-backed administration.
Zia pledges reforms for socio-economic advancement in the impoverished country of 150 million, to heal the wounds her past ruling alliance developed, reportedly through corruption.
Born in northern Dinajpur district in 1945, Khaleda Zia married Ziaur Rahman, a leading hero of Bangladesh's liberation war, in 1960.
The military general formed the Bangladesh Nationalist Party after he became president of the country following the 1975 changeover through assassination of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
ziaur Rahman was assassinated in an abortive military coup in May 1981. Up till then, Zia had been an low-profile housewife devoting herself to raising her two sons Tareque Rahman and Arafat Rahman - both accused of graft and now living abroad.
Justice Abdus Sattar, a BNP leader, took over the helm of the party and the presidency as well after the assassination of Rahman, who had founded the BNP in 1978.
Within four months of the elections, then army chief H M Ershad had overthrown the Sattar government in a bloodless coup, proclaiming martial law on 24 March 1982.
A year later, Justice Sattar appointed Zia as vice-chairman of the party, apparently to keep ranks united. In 1984, she was made chairperson of the party when Sattar retired from politics. A new challenging chapter opened for Zia - fighting despotic martial law.
As a field was prepared for an anti-autocratic movement, Khaleda - who led an alliance with like-minded parties - joined hands with her political rival Sheikh Hasina, who was also leading an eight-party combine, to oust the military dictator.
The fight took nine long years to depose military dictator, Ershad, who detained Zia seven times in an effort to slow the tempo of the movement against him.
Zia became Bangladesh's first women prime minister in 1991 through elections conducted by a caretaker administration after the ouster of Ershad in the face of mass protests in late 1990.
Zia's BNP government restored the parliamentary system through the 12th amendment to the Constitution in 1991.
This introduced the caretaker government system through 13th amendment in 1996. The party won an overwhelming majority in parliament in February 1996 elections which was boycotted by all other major political parties.
Zia had to resign within 11 of the formation of the government in the face of a vigorous non-cooperation movement by the Awami League party of Hasina, by whom Zia was defeated in June 12 polls that year.
Zia then forged an alliance with a number of rightwing parties including religion-based Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islam party and Islami Oikya Jote in 1999.
Her BNP-led political alliance won the October 1, 2001 general election with a two-thirds majority in parliament. She became prime minister, but her government was accused of massive corruption, sheltering criminals and helping the rise of the Islamist militancy.
The power struggle took the nation to the brink of anarchy, prompting an army takeover keeping a civil government in the fore after promulgation of a state of emergency in January 2007.
Zia, her sons and many of her cabinet colleagues were arrested by the military-backed government, accused of corruption. She was released last September 11, after over a year in detention, following negotiations to take part in the year-end elections.
